Our House

Such a sweet and touching song. Between web work.. a break to play my handmade for day 29 a cover of Our House - By Crosby Stills Nash and Young.
Handmade #29

Y function

January 27th flo photography shoots for the YMCA for the reveal of their big announcement.
The Taggart family donates 2 million dollars, the largest in their history.

Citizen ran their story here.

Today's handmade: Event shoot. A little less creative a task but i still found some interesting shots within the mix.

relief is coming soon

Live your life each day as you would climb a mountain.
An occasional glance toward the summit keeps the goal
in mind, but many beautiful scenes are to be observed
from each new vantage point.
Climb slowly, steadily, enjoying each passing moment;
and the view from the summit will serve as a fitting
climax for the journey.

-- Harold V. Melchert

animal kingdom

I promise I'm not getting the baby buzz but sometimes I lack the cleverness to find another use for something so simple... all's i have to say is - I love me my animals. I dont just love one, I love all, and I love drawing them and building up a whole fleet... so heres what I've decided to do.

1. Cut up or pre buy some cardboard stock in small note sizes (mine are 2.5x4inches)
2. Lots of options for this but the easiest is to find an online kids colouring page site where they will list countless line drawings of every animal imaginable (example site here).
3. draw out your desired animals making one per small square.
4. Eventual goal: a handmade animal kingdom set for a kids gift or maybe for saving for the future (this gives me a lot of time to create a whole collection)

Here are six animal cards I created for my January 20th handmade

day 19 - sketchbook entry

In the months of waiting we prep. We prep and get excited for things to come.

Here are some of the idea sketchs that have been building....

a little update

January 18th, the day AFTER 'blue monday' statistically the most depressing day of the year, congratulations, we made it!

So a brief apology for my delay in posting. I have NOT given up, at least not this early in. I have been continuing to do my creative tasks for my everyday handmade challenge even though I seem to be experiencing technical difficulties loading some of the items i was hoping to show.

I decided instead of waiting to post the more current handmades, I would post the ones I do have ready while I try to overcome loading issues and camera cord disappearances. Undoubtedly the most challenging part about this challenge wont be making something different every day but the ability to get it up here in a timely manor.

Flo studio work is progressing. One piece of the business puzzle that we've been working on as of late has been the website. The talented Bri guy is creating us a multifuncional website, one for which there will be a lot of thumbnail images.
After a couple hours of resizing detail shots for the gallery section, this little postcard template came to light. Melody's handmade for january 18th - more flo marketing materials.

flo floats!

I've thought about how far I might reach with this 'handmade' project. It appears assembling ikea furniture counts. Justification? If it took the entire day to put together, then i think it's worth documenting. And I am mightly pleased with the results and wanted to share some progress in the new studio.

Day 15 - Building a flamworking space (part 1of2)

Where it all beings - an empty space.

Note: Do not boast too loudly about you ikea assembly skills UNTIL its finished.

Note #2 - Do not skip steps. That's usually going to bring you trouble.

Note #3 - Flat floors are much appreciated.
My floors from one end to the other were off by 2.5inches.
The result? Flo's Flameworking Station Floats!
(cement leveling the floors will be an upcoming handmade to look forward to)

Oh yes, and I cheat even further with my 'handmade'
I absolutely could not have done this project without Pat's skillful assistance.

Est Voila! This entire unit, with countertops included, cost under $600
I am so so excited about my new creative space!

Part 2 of this project still to come. Fume hoods and metal fixings will be installed to make her fully functional and safe for my flameworking needs.

not much commentary needed: Handmade #13 -z-bird.

Another night in the studio with my side kick rocky boy.

Day 11 on the handmade menu - medallions.

I need to develope a better system of taking pictures of progress shots while at the bench.

Sadly this is all i got of the process...

I'll work out the kinks, and produce better quality shots in the future.

can't make it better

This guy was the reason I fell behind in my handmades... Loading issues, but finally resolved. January 10th's handmade - a song (*note* very rough recording).

sundays are for long walks with the doggie

I am behind on my updates, but at least I am still playing by the rules. Bri and I went for a walk with the ever animated Rocky boy on Sunday where we tested out our new film for our Super8 camera (we now have to take it in to get converted onto disk.. another future handmade project to finish) and I brought the ol' SLR for some picture taking of my favourite pooch.

If we haven't already covered this, Rocky loves playing with sticks.

Day 9's handmade - a Rocky album of all his wonderful character shots on flickr

painted potters

Personalized home project 1 for 2011 completed.
Day 8 of 365 days of Handmade - making pretty potters Bri and I decided to take our random potters at home and give them a little character
(to go with our exceptionally characterized home)

Our tools consisted of tubes of acrylic paint (matching our decor),
a small assortment of brushes, painters tape, a sharpie, and a clear lacquer spray paint.

Simple patterns tend to be the more successful. Try to start with a clean, rough surface. The black lines on the pot below are my sharpie trick, it adds more punch to your planter. When you're happy with your design be sure to use the spray lacquer on both the inside and outside of the pot. This keeps a good water resist finish.

To conserve on space we painted ikea potters with small holes for hanging.

I would have loved to post this portrait of Rocky boy as one of my handmades for this year
but alas the painting was a christmas present.. one of the last items i finished from 2010. In any case we'll say hello to it now so its not left out.

banana muffin

Baked goods are on the list for handmades this year. We're starting things off a touch easy here, going through recipes I would deem my 'tried and true' family baked goods. This recipe has always been made for me with love from Margi dearest. She sited the recipe off the top of her head, and now I divulge it online for all to enjoy (as i sit enjoying one of the sample muffins in these photos)

Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins
Pre-Heat Oven to 350

In a blender, mix the following:
1 cup sugar

1/2 cup butter

2 eggs

1/2 cup milk
1 tbsp lemon juice

2 ripe bananas

in a separate bowl:
2 cups flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
mix well then add wet ingredients

once mixed add 1 cup chocolate chips

Dish into 2 muffin trays of six (or pour into greased loaf pan)

bake muffins for 20mins (or loaf for 40mins)

So straight forward, so easy and yet baking intimidates me (why?) All the more reason to keep the handmade daily's going. It'll give me more practice at those things that unnecessarily scare me out attempting them.

last note: my friend Andy who has the blog delicate.balance has also joined in on this challenge. Instead of daily shes taking on a weekly handmade assignment for herself. Giver a gander.

drawing board

Weddings appear to be growing in popularity for glass commissions. I've done wedding favours, centerpieces, wedding party gifts and of course, gifts for the bride and groom themselves.

I recieved my first wedding commission for 2011 the other day - 180 wedding stoppers with a very open concept on design (basically anything organic with their wedding colours encorporated in it) here are some concept sketchs of the possible final items. The bottom two on the left are my current top picks but i can't determine their final merrit until I actually try out some samplers.

bound together

Day 5's handmade - iphoto assisted photo album. It's dead easy. Drag and drop into templates. Click to buy... and it arrives at your door step in 5 days flat. London photos on flickr.

acorn

Wee production evening at the shop.
Starting to get back into the swing of things...
Everyday handmade item for January 4th - the acorn

step 1. draft your notes/design (note the trivial pursuit.. i play while i work)

step 2 - make your pendant

step 3 - anneal your pendant

step 4 - string your pendant

In truth, the last photo wasn't taken today but the others were true production items from the evening. 4 days down. 361 days to go.

adventures with rocky raccoon

January 3rd. Woke up on the top bunky with this little guy excited for play. Today's handmade - a few shots from my ventures with sir rocky boy. More photos on flickr

old roads tunes

I feel as though I'm being attacked by all sides... seems the excitement for the New Year has led to an entire night without sleep. My very off and dozy behaviour is causing day 2 of my 365 day challenge already a tough hurdle. BUT WE MADE IT!!!

Todays handmade... its computer made but selected by myself - a cd mix (aw how cute)

I can only list them here (whats the best site to use to create a sharable cd mix online? please assist)

the... 'we be going to the cottage' driving mix.

1- australia - shins
2-ticket to ride - beatles
3-dawn-brian jonestown massacre
4-rockey raccoon - beatles
5-sinnerman - nina simone
6-sweet judy blue eyes - crosby stills nash & young
7-wild world - cat stevens
8-shambala 3 - three dog night
9-fujimama mama - wanda jackson
10-sampson - regina spektor
11-lets stay together - al green
12-take a walk on the wild side - lou reed
13-right as rain - adele
14-me and julio down by the schoolyard - simon & garfunkle
15-the way we get by - spoon
16-love - brian jonestown massacre
17-sympathy for the devil - stones.

there we go. enjoy, there are definitely a few classics in there.
And off we go! chez le cottage! yayay!
post again late tomorrow night when we've returned :)

new year. new project.

Every new year I love to prescribe myself a new project. There are the years where the resolution/project list is a bit too ambitious, but i tweek and try to perscribe myself something within my means... the biggest rule is - it must stay interesting.

This particular New Year, without question, is a special one. This is the first year of my new business, a business I've been planning to do since I went into the field of glassblowing nine years ago. And though I definitely don't want another distraction from the goal of the studio, I would love something daily to keep the journaling interesting and to share for the blog and everyone who might be inclined to follow.

Sooo... what have I set for myself as a challenge?

Everyday Handmade - 2011
I challenge myself to make one creative thing daily, every day in 2011.

There are NO restrictions on what I make I just have to make it, document it and get it up on this site for people to follow and *nudge* join in if they too are inspired to take the challenge (in whatever fashion they choose).

So my friends here we go. I wish you all a very joyous 2011.

15 seconds of Kel and Andee cleaning shop. (I needed to brush up on my final cut skills)